SECTION: Feature Film Competition

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The twelve best productions from Central and Eastern Europe. Ambitious talents compete with old masters and star directors.

From a family celebration full of local colour to a Balkan Western, a holiday on the island of Tenerife extended by the outbreak of war to a return home to work through a period of mourning, and provincial Lithuania in the nineties to an end-time romance in space, under the Anatolian sun and in the midst of the formidable mountain landscapes of Central Asia: cinema from east-central and eastern Europe at its best; ranging from the highly personal to the adventurous and contemplative. Films that, at times rather unconventionally, hit the nail on the head: twelve titles from 19 producing nations, all of which would be worthy winners of the Lubinas for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor - who will take home the coveted awards?

These prizes are awarded by the international festival jury:

Main prize for the best film 15.000 EUR
donated by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg

Special Award for Best Director 7.500 EU
donated by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg rbb

Prize for an outstanding individual performance 5,000 EUR
donated by Sparkasse Spree-Neiße

In addition to the prize money, there is also the prize sculpture LUBINA (Sorbian: the lovely one). Here you can see a video of the creation of the LUBINA.

BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY

BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY

BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY

Elene Naveriani
GE/CH / 2023 / 112 min
Etero is approaching 50 and runs a small shop in a remote Georgian village. She never married, out of conviction, always content with herself and without what others call “love”. Then Murman appears, and a cautious relationship develops between ...
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COLD AS MARBLE

COLD AS MARBLE

Mərmər soyuğu

Asif Rustamov
AZ/FR / 2022 / 88 min
A slightly different love triangle from today's Baku. A troubled artist, son of a murderer, regularly and secretly sleeps with the wife of an oligarch in a small museum – and has no chance of asserting himself against the powerful people in his ...
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FOREVER-FOREVER

FOREVER-FOREVER

Nazavzhdy-Nazavzhdy

Anna Buryachkova
UA/NL / 2023 / 107 min
Wild teenage passion in Kyiv in the late 90s. In the ruins of the Soviet regime, Tonia gets enmeshed in a complex love triangle while trying to flee from her past and ends up on a path of self-destruction. #feature #comingofage #femalevocies
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IMAGO

IMAGO

IMAGO

Olga Chajdas
PL/NL/CZ / 2023 / 113 min
Poland, 1987. Solidarność is protesting on the streets of Gdańsk, but Ela is not interested in big politics. She has her own struggle. A young artist with extraordinary creativity and a vivid imagination joins a psychedelic punk band, becomes a ...
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LIBERTATE

LIBERTATE

LIBERTATE

Tudor Giurgiu
RO/HU / 2023 / 109 min
"Don't play hero!" With these words, police officer Viorel is said goodbye by his wife in the morning on his way to work – it’s the year 1989, the socialist dictatorship is being overthrown in Romania, and from time to time the roles of ...
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IT CAME FROM THE WATER

IT CAME FROM THE WATER

APOKAWIXA

Xawery Żuławski
PL / 2022 / 120 min
Peace, rave, sex, lots of drugs and nature's revenge: Shortly after Corona, the nouveau riche's son Kamil lets loose in his father's villa on the coast of the Baltic Sea. But Dad makes his millions by dumping toxins in the sea - everyone who bathes ...
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LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT

LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT

Valoa valoa valoa

Inari Niemi
FI / 2023 / 87 min
Sensitively staged rollercoaster ride of a first love. 80s in Finland. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster has just shocked the world. The teenagers Mariia and Mimi get to know each other and fall in love. But it seems to be only the quiet before the ...
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THREE THOUSAND NUMBERED PIECES

THREE THOUSAND NUMBERED PIECES

Háromezer számozott darab

Ádám Császi
HU / 2022 / 97 min
Cocky political correctness satire. Under the guise of supposed “help” for minorities, a Berlin theater is exhibiting Roma as if in a zoo. Just when the curtain falls, all the pretense of the intellectual do-gooders is being dropped. #feature ...
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WHERE THE ROAD LEADS

WHERE THE ROAD LEADS

Ovuda će proći put

Nina Ognjanović
RS / 2022 / 81 min
The sleepy existence of the Serbian village is disturbed by the arrival of “the new one”. The curiosity of the locals, who want to know as much as possible about the handsome stranger, is mixed with open hostility: perhaps his appearance ...
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THE INVISIBLE FIGHT

THE INVISIBLE FIGHT

NÄHTAMATU VÕITLUS

Rainer Sarnet
EE/GR/LV/FI / 2023 / 115 min
Estonian kung fu comedy between heavy metal and 70s flair. After a group of flying monks disrupts his life, border guard Rafael ends up in a special kind of Orthodox monastery. The beginning of an absurdly comic adventure. #feature #action #music
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PATIENT #1

PATIENT #1

PATIENT #1

Rezo Gigineishvili
GE / 2023 / min
The Soviet Union in the spring of 1985. There is still snow outside. In a huge hospital complex, one patient in particular is cared for: the Secretary General. Until the elections, patient number one must be kept alive and happy. The frozen, old and ...
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M

M

M

Vardan Tozija
NMK/HR/XK/FR/LU / 2023 / 99 min
Coming-of-age in the post-apocalypse: eight-year-old Marko has grown up in the forest, alone with his father, far away from this pandemic that has turned people into zombies. But now he is old enough to explore the world - and gets to deal not only ...
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